Baozi lost a little weight recently. I checked the GL weight page and it's no cause for concern, but my fam seems to be super concerned. Baozi is a small pig compared to fat Ace (who is huge to be fair) but I notice that when I feed them, Baozi tends to eat much slower than Ace, who practically hoovers her food. Baozi also tends to be easily distracted and once she stops focusing on eating, Ace will steal her food. I try to give Baozi treats during laptime when Ace can't steal them. I'm not sure what else I can do to make her eat more. I do see Baozi frequently nomming hay and pellets, though.

Baozi is also an extremely talkative pig. She wheeks ALL the time. I think she just likes the sound of her own voice, lol. My entire family is just enamored of Baozi. They feed her whenever she wheeks and spoil her. Nobody seems to love Ace except me :(((

Maybe it's b/c I am the one who always has her in my lap and she is such a fat little lap pig. She loves to pancake on my lap and show off that saxxy leg.

Baozi moves around so much it's hard to get a photo that isn't blurry, but here she is during laptime:

We had that problem for a while with our two older girls, one was slower and more skittish and seemed to be losing a little. We started feeding dinner (veggies) in separate cages and it made a big difference. It gave Delilah freedom to eat as slow as she needed to without losing her share of dinner. We only had to do it for a while then she started being more aggressive and ate faster back in home-cage.

My fam has come to accept my pigs, and Baozi has won everyone over. No one likes poor fat ace. My Mom thinks she bullies Baozi and is always scolding her. And my fam thinks she's not as cute as Baozi. I tried to explain about dominant pigs and that Ace is just being a guinea pig, but it doesn't seem to work. Poor little Ace pig. I put her in my lap and gave her a treat and cuddles while I watched Elementary. I hope she knows I love her even if no one else does.

To make sure Baozi gets enough to eat, I have been putting her in my lap during their dinner time (Ace gets lap time afterward). I'm always so rushed in the morning I don't have time for lap time during the pigs' breakfast, but I watch them, and Baozi seems to get plenty to eat. I hope she gains some weight soon! And I hope they will behave when I try to weigh them again. I can never get them to sit still on the scale--they keep trying to jump or climb out. How do you guys get your pigs to behave on weighing day?

Oh, sorry to spam but I should add that Ace's behavior toward Baozi is just typical pig behavior. They squabble over food but there's no aggression beyond that. Baozi just eats slower than Ace so Ace will try to steal her food lol. I see Baozi eating hay and pellets often and so it's not like Ace is preventing her from eating or anything like that. They actually get on pretty well most of the time. Now, if only Baozi would just eat faster :p

Yesterday the girls had a play date with my 9-yr-old niece's guinea pig, a neutered male named Kingston. I call him Pepe Le Pig. Because he looks like a skunk and good god he stinks. Like he is the stinkest pig to ever stink. I put him in my lap, got a whiff, and legit made a face like this:

I was like, "Jeez, do you guys ever give him a bath?" My niece said they bathed him twice since they got him (a couple months ago?). I have no idea why he reeks so much. So Pepe is quite the fitting nickname.

Here is a photo of the stinker in my lap:

We set up a pen in the living room about 2x5 for the pigs to meet. It went better than I expected but my fam doesn't agree. There was a lot of rumble strutting and chasing, and like most human males, Pepe was not taking no for an answer. He kept trying to hump the girls and they were having none of it. He's a small boy and kept going after Ace, who summarily rejected him. It was like a chihuahua trying to mount a great dane. After the umpteenth humping attempt Ace got mad and nipped at him. There was no bloodshed, just some chattering and rumble strutting, but my niece got upset and cried and ran into my room. I took the girls out and put them back in the cage.

I also noticed Pepe having loose poops. I asked my niece and my brother (her Dad) about it. They said his poops were normal till this morning. That made me suspect a diet thing, so I asked them what they fed him recently, and she just said "pellets." I know they are feeding him hay and veggies, but I think they feed him alfalfa-based pellets, which isn't good since he's an adult pig (the HS guessed he was about 3yrs old). I give the girls Oxbow Cavy Cuisine (it's the only timothy-based guinea pig food our local feed store has), so I told my brother to switch him to that instead.

My Mom was all mad because my girls were mean to Pepe and upset my niece, but once again I had to explain that they were just being guinea pigs. Frankly, I don't blame my girls. If some stinky ball-less strange boy was trying to hump me I'd nip at him too. Poor Ace and Baozi. I gave them extra cuddles and treats after Pepe left.

"Who run the world?" says Ace

I was really scared that since he had loose poops he might have some kind of bug that would transfer to my girls. I'm monitoring them carefully. So far their poops are normal and so is the rest of their behavior and appearance. They both wheeked loudly and begged for food this morning so it's business as usual around here.

Here they are chowing down on their Oxbow (they seriously love it):

I worry about Pepe (I'm off to launder that towel in industrial-strength bleach b/c the smell oh god THE SMELL). I need to send my sister-in-law another detailed e-mail about pig care (I sent one when they first adopted Pepe, but I guess I could always add more). I had a boar as a child, an abby/peruvian mix that resembled Serena's Puffy (but unlike Puffy he was a big boy--he weighed in at roughly 2lbs in his prime). He never stank that much! We didn't bathe him that often either, iirc.

Anyway, thus was the ill-fated pig play date. I guess the girls will never get along with any neutered boy unless he realizes who runs this joint, lol.

Thanks, Lynx. I was hoping it was just me having a very sensitive nose, lol. Unfortunately, since he's not my guinea pig, I can only go by what my niece tells me and she claims his poops were fine before. They took him to the vet about a month ago, I believe, and he was treated for an ear infection and an infection after his neuter surgery.

My niece tells me he's a very furtive pig and likes to hide in his pigloo most of the time. The whole time he was here he sat in the soda box (once the girls were out) but didn't have that hunched-over sick piggy look. He seemed pretty relaxed. My niece says that he runs laps around the cage. I have already showed my sister-in-law this site, so next time I see her I'll ask her more about the pig.

Meanwhile, back in Pig Planet, Baozi has been going nuts, lol. I think she's in heat again because she's been rumble strutting, chasing Ace, and popcorning all evening. She's been squeaking a lot and begging for treats (more so than usual, lol). Now that I have had the pigs for a few months, they're coming out of their shells more. They have such little personalities. Baozi is an extremely feisty and inquisitive pig. Sometimes she loves to be petted and sometimes she will shake my hand off when she's being hyper (like tonight). Ace is generally docile and mellow, but sometimes she will popcorn and run laps around the cage. She has a very soft little wheek (while Baozi is LOUD). They are most active in the evenings when I'm home and are often playful and extremely amusing.

Baozi is getting a bit more assertive about her food and seems to be getting fatter. I will try to weigh them again and hope they stay in the scale this time lol.